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FC Augsburg leave Leipzig empty handed

On the opening night of matchday 22, FC Augsburg were beaten 2-0 by last year’s Bundesliga runners up, RB Leipzig. Dayot Upamecano shot the hosts in front in the first half, before Naby Keita doubled their lead in the second half from a free kick.

Manuel Baum made one change to the side that defeated Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend. Rani Khedira returned after a suspension, meaning Jan Moravek started from the bench.

FCA started quickly straight out of the gate and pushed forward with intent, much the same as the hosts. After a cross from the right hand side, Michael Gregoritsch tried to redirect the ball towards goal with an audacious backheel, but WIlli Orban got himself in the way at the last second to block the shot (7’). The first real chance of the game fell to Leipzig, however: Timo Werner cut in from the left to shoot, but Marwin Hitz stood tall to make the save (16’). One minute later though, he’d be picking the ball out from his net. Hitz managed to parry a overhead attempt from Yussuf Poulsen, but it fell nicely into the path of an onrushing Dayot Upamecano, who smashed it home from short range (17’).

Leipzig stepped up a gear after getting the opener, and Augsburg had their hands full. Augsburg’s next real chance to score came after a good 30 minutes, when Ja-Cheol Koo played a lovely through ball to Gregoritsch, but he struck the ball poorly and it dribbled into the waiting arms of Gulacsi (33’). Hitz would keep out another Werner attempt to keep the lead at only one heading into the half time break.

Leipzig show their attacking power

Hitz was called into action once again as the second half got underway. First off, Kevin Kampl tried to catch him out from distance, but it posed him no problems. Next up was Timo Werner, who sprinted down the right wing to get himself free. The Switzerland international narrowed the angle and saved the resulting shot with a strong right arm (53’). RB Leipzig continued to be dangerous, and continued to threaten for an equaliser. Bruma tried his luck, but his shot went over (60’). FCA had a rare scoring opportunity at the other end shortly thereafter, but Daniel Baier’s long range effort could only sting the hands of the outstretched Gulacsi (67’). FCA just couldn’t match the offensive firepower of their hosts.

In the 70th minute, Leipzig got a free kick around 22 metres out from the FCA goal. Keita tried to get it up and over the wall, but Martin Hinteregger got himself in the way. However, the deflection altered the ball’s direction enough to wrong foot Hitz, and the ball would roll into the net. That was a summary of FCA’s luck on the evening, emphasised further by a Koo goal being disallowed for offside. The game would end in a disappointing 2-0 loss for FC Augsburg and a lot for them to build upon going forward.

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